Since the 1980’s, Dr. Anderson has studied the Blue-Footed Booby, a seabird that finds its home on these islands and hunts for food in the ocean waters that surround them. But as ocean temperatures rise from El Niño weather patterns, this seabird and other marine subspecies face uncertain changes.

Dr. Anderson (left) is an expert on the Blue-Footed Booby, having studied them for decades as indicators of marine ecosystem vitality.

According to UNESCO, the United Nations educational and cultural agency, the Galapagos Islands are one of the places most vulnerable to impacts of climate change.

For decades, Dr. Anderson and undergraduate and graduate members of his Avian Ecology group have conducted field research on the behavioral ecology and conservation biology of seabirds like the Blue-Footed Booby and Albatross. His research is informed by questions about the influence of variables like costs of reproduction, environmental heterogeneity, and genetic architecture on the evolution of characters like clutch size, offspring sex ratio, and sibling competition.

A student takes notes while conducting field research on the Blue-Footed Boobies in the Galapagos Islands.